The Colombian company Pacific Fruits, one of the main producers and exporters of Hass avocado in the country, has begun talks to export its products to the Asian market, starting with China, although with the goal of reaching other countries like Japan, Malaysia, or South Korea.
Rodolfo Ahumada, of Pacific Fruits, stated that "the Colombian avocado has a great quality and its taste is very similar to the Mexican avocado, which at the moment is preferred by the Asian consumer due to its high content of natural fats; something that gives us a great advantage against the avocado of Peruvian, Chilean and other origins."
According to Ahumada, they have very good communication routes with China to export to Asia: "We have very good routes from Buenaventura to Asia, with several defined set up routes, that are fast and well executed, so all the logistics is ready for export. We are just waiting for the Chinese government to carry out a verification of the quality of our products to start working with some Chinese importers who have already shown interest in our avocado."
"Our main market has always been the European market, as we export to Spain, France, England, Germany, and the Netherlands, but the expansion to Asia would be a great outlet for our product. Our production increased in the last year and we expect it to continue to grow year after year, since Colombia has approximately 15 thousand hectares of production of young trees that have not reached their maximum harvest yet. Last year, Pacific Fruits exported 96 containers of Hass avocado to its European markets, but our goal this year is to reach 300 containers, thanks to our expansion towards Asia," he said.
The entry of Pacific Fruits into the Asian market is also a good way to avoid saturating the Spanish market, their main customers, even though the company wants to continue growing in that market, not only by making sales to wholesale markets, but also by reaching the final consumer by negotiating directly with large supermarket chains. "The idea is that they get to know us, especially so that they see us as the main option during the months when Spanish avocado producers don't have a harvest," Ahumada said.
Pacific Fruits, which opened its export and packaging plant a little over 2 years ago in southern Colombia (a strategic point of contact with the production fields), has experienced an overwhelming growth in the last year, as turnover went from 3.5 million dollars last year to 5.8 million by the end of August this year. "And we still haven't had our peak season, which runs from October to December, so we hope to easily double the volumes of last year," stated Ahumada.
The company's success goes hand in hand with the country's growth. The good prospects of Colombia in agriculture and the development of the industry, which last year invoiced USD35,000,000 and that up until the end of August, before the time of the year when there is the largest production, has made USD 27,500,000. In addition, the country's avocado sector is being promoted by different entities, both from the public sector, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Colombian Institute of Agriculture, Procolombia, and Analdex as well as by exporters association.
